


Once upon a Time

by anr



Category: Snow White: A Tale of Terror
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-09-22
Updated: 2009-09-22
Packaged: 2017-11-04 11:10:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/393164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anr/pseuds/anr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His fingers curl into signs of protection out of habit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Once upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

> Latin translations in mouseover.
> 
> Request: Will/Lilly set during the movie or slightly after, angsty and dark and sexy, dealing with their growing bond.

Outside, the manor burns.

  


* * *

  


"Poison," she says, folding a compress of linen and snow. "He needs doctoring."

Will watches her from the other side of the small fire he has built, feeding it absently with shredded leaves and bark and straw. "You know of such things?"

Carefully she lays the compress of her father's brow. "I know of _her_."

He has no response to that.

  


* * *

  


They are in the stables, far enough away for the falling snow to dampen any cinders, close enough for his lungs to fill with smoke when he breathes deep. Stepping outside to fill the buckets he has found, he watches the ash and snow drift about the land, the world greying. The cross on his cheek flares.

Lilly follows, staring as he draws water from the well. When he makes to catch her eye, she turns her head quickly, embarrassed.

"What brought you here?" she asks eventually, in a small, small voice that he does not recognise. "Why did you follow?"

He thinks, briefly, of her coffin. Of her in her coffin. "I had seen you all but buried twice, Princess," he says. "There is no desire to do so again."

"Oh," she says. She looks at him directly and smiles. "Thank you."

It is his turn to look away.

  


* * *

  


Her father stirs fretfully, slipping in and out of dreams that make Will itch for his knife and a foe. His fingers curl into signs of protection out of habit.

"Peter," her father gasps, "where is --"

Lilly's fingers smooth over his brow. "Rest, Papa," she hushes. "In the morning we will fetch you a doctor."

"No!" Her father grabs at her hand, eyes wide and feverish. "I'll not pass with my daughter uncared for."

She shakes her head. "You think of me as a child still, Father," she says disapprovingly.

Her father closes his eyes and moans. "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae..."

Lilly shushes him again. "You'll not die tonight, Papa," she says, "nor any night soon. Rest now, please."

She starts to hum, a lullaby Will remembers from a lifetime ago, before the mines, before the fires.

Standing, he steps outside.

  


* * *

  


He steps outside to draw more water and sees shadows in the forest.

Returning to the stables, he bolts the door and fastens the openings. Lilly watches him curiously from the fire.

"Wolves," he says, and sees a flash of terror cross her face before she can school herself. Straightening her shoulders, she turns back to her father, to her humming.

He feels a need to reassure her. "They'll not harm --"

She cuts him off with a swift look. "They killed my mother."

"She was attacked?"

"So some may say."

There is much he does not know about Lilly, he realises then. "I'm sorry," he says.

She nods, looking away. "It was a long time ago."

  


* * *

  


It is nearing dawn when her father slips past dreams and into deeper sleep, his laboured breathing easing enough for rest. Rubbing at her eyes, Lilly stands awkwardly, stumbling in her exhaustion.

He is on his feet and at her side, hands gripping her elbows, before he knows his own intentions.

Lowering her hands, she rests her fingers lightly on his shoulders. She looks surprised to find him so close, and he wonders how long it has been since he last held her.

Her body sways a little in his embrace, shifting closer.

 _Too long_ , he thinks.

"You should rest," he says.

"Hmm." Her hands flex gently, fingertips brushing the skin where his shirt opens. "I am not the only one."

He lets out a breath. "You should rest," he says again, and if his voice is hoarser on the repetition, it is, he thinks, from fatigue and fire.

"Hmm." She shifts again, leaning in and stretching until her mouth can brush his, soft and cautious.

He keeps himself very, very still until she pulls away, disappointment on her face.

"You would not kiss me now?" she asks, and he closes his eyes, hands tightening.

"I would not do more than that," he says, not easily. He opens his eyes and looks down at her. "You are very young, and very beautiful, and --" His mouth twists into a kind of smile. "-- very much in the presence of your father."

"Oh!" Her suddenly shocked look brings a real smile to his lips as she glances over her shoulder to see if her father has awoken. After a moment, she turns back, her gaze lowered. "Oh," she says again.

He laughs softly and frees one of his hands to touch her chin, to raise her face. "Lilly," he says, and presses his lips to her brow.

  


* * *

  


What blankets they have cover her father.

Lying down on the straw some distance from the fire, he lets her rest beside him, her hand beneath his on his chest.

She shifts restlessly, fingers plucking the threads of his shirt. "I can not help but wonder," she says, "what we would do if my father were not here."

He grits his teeth and takes proper hold of her fingers, stilling them. "Very little," he manages, "without a priest in his place."

She stiffens. "I did not mean --" She breathes out in a rush. "You -- you would ask for me?"

 _Will he?_ "Rest, Lilly," he says. "Morning will come soon enough."

"Yes," she says, quietly, and there is that voice again, the one he does not recognise.

He holds her closer and turns his face towards hers. "Yes."

  


* * *

  


When he closes his eyes, he dreams of snow.

  


* * *

The End

**Author's Note:**

> ORIGINAL URL: <http://anr.livejournal.com/369312.html>


End file.
